Mr G Hextall v Greans (West Haddon) Ltd — 2020

The tribunal heard the final full merits hearing remotely on 23 November 2020. The claimant appeared in person and the respondent did not attend or call evidence. The tribunal refused the claimant's application to add Mr James Robertson personally as a respondent, holding that the employer was the company, there was no legal basis to pierce the corporate veil, and adding a second respondent would have caused further delay.

On the wages claim, the tribunal accepted the claimant's and his partner's evidence and rejected the respondent's account. It found that deductions had been made from wages without any written agreement permitting them. The reasons record that the respondent had admitted deductions of £3,618.06 in earlier proceedings, and the tribunal accepted the claimant's adjustment for £512.00 of holiday-pay miscalculation, leaving £3,106.06 unlawfully deducted. It also accepted that 84 hours of work up to dismissal had not been paid, at £8 per hour, adding £672.00. The judgment records a total award of £3,778.06 on this head.

The tribunal also accepted that the claimant had accrued 178 hours of untaken holiday and awarded £1,424.00 gross. On notice pay, it found that the claimant had been dismissed with notice and was entitled to one week's notice pay. Using the claimant's average hours over the previous 12 weeks and the statutory cap then in force, it calculated a weekly gross pay of £450.46 and awarded that sum for breach of contract/wrongful dismissal.

The tribunal further found that the respondent had failed to provide a written statement of terms and conditions as required by s.1 Employment Rights Act 1996. It awarded compensation at the lower two-week rate, £900.92, because it found the respondent was a small employer. Interest was awarded on the monetary heads, except for the written-statement award, at £1.24 per day from 29 September 2017, totalling £1,424.75. The judgment states that the total due was £7,978.18. The reasons also note that a later November 2020 claim was out of time and outside jurisdiction, but that was said to be the subject of a separate judgment.